Guild Home Video
1st Logo (1980-1983) Nicknames: "The Hexagon G", "G Over Square & TV Tube", "The Guildorcist", "Tubular Guild", "The Other G of Doom", "Genesis' British Cousin", "Halloween G", "Video is Alive – Live With It", "RKO's Cousin" Logo: On a dark blue background, a gold-yellow, hexagon-formed "G" with a square underneath it zooms in downward, a la RKO's 1981 logo, leaving behind a residue trail. When it gets to the center, the "G" and the square turn from solid to segmented, and a line draws what looks like a TV tube, surrounding it. Both parts of the logo zoom in, and we quickly fade to the same logo, only smaller, and with "GUILD HOME VIDEO presents" (in a yellow Helvetica font) underneath. Variant: A rare still variant with "video is alive – live with it" shown below was used at the end of Guild tapes. FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Early computer graphics. The residue trail left by the logo as it zooms in is badly done. Music/Sounds: A twinkling synth-xylophone/flute/clarinet tune, which sounds similar to the beginning of the song "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield (most famously used in The Exorcist) (thus making the logo worse). Music/Sounds Variant: On the "video is alive – live with it" variant, it's silent. Availability: On UK tapes of Guild releases from that era, including Baron Blood and Scanners. Scare Factor: Original Version: Medium to high. This will catch you, with the darkness and music, giving this logo an eerie feel. The logo zooming in will also get to some. Others will otherwise like this logo and its music. "video is alive – live with it" Variant: None. The logo being still and the lack of the music makes it a lot tamer than the original version. 2nd Logo (1983-1985) Nickname: "The Hexagon G II", "G Over Square & TV Tube II", "The Tick" Logo: In the top-left corner of a black background, we see a bright light flashing before our eyes. The light reveals the same "G Over Square" logo, but colored cerulean. Again, the TV tube is drawn around the logo, but underneath a light draws a teal/dark pink line that starts downward, then upward, and then straight. When the line is finished, another lights reveals the words "Guild Home Video" above the line, and below it another reveals "Quality Video Entertainment". The logo then sparkles a bit. Variant: A variant seen at the end of tapes starts with the name flashing in. FX/SFX: The lights bringing forth all parts of the logo. It may be early CGI, but it's not too bad. Music/Sounds: A weird synth tune in the beginning, then a synth-orchestra tune at the end. Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variant: Sometimes, this is accompanied by an announcer saying "Before you enjoy our main feature, here's a trailer from another major release from Guild, which is available at your local stockist now.". Oddly, the announcer has an American accent, despite Guild being a British distributor (the same announcer is heard in Guild's trailers, as well)! Availability: Hard to find. Check an old VHS or Beta PAL tape for this logo. An example is the UK pre-cert release of Cujo. It is also seen on the first Thomas & Friends tapes. Some prints use the Central Video or The Video Collection logos. Scare Factor: Minimal due to the darkness and music, but this is a fan favorite, nevertheless. Also, it's tamer than the previous logo. 3rd Logo (1985-1989) Nicknames: "The Hexagon G III", "Go Guild!" Logo: On a blue background, orange bar segments fly in from the left and right of the screen, while they sparkle and zoom out. Eventually, the bars start forming the Guild logo (without the TV tube and the square on the bottom). When the logo is fully formed, this fades in below the logo— GUILD Home Video in white. FX/SFX: Great animation. Music/Sounds: A synth note is held throughout, with a synth bass line that speeds up slightly near the end, followed by a synth fanfare. A female chorus hums during this section, ending in them shouting "Go Guild!" (hence the nickname; it's hard to tell because the chorus is rather muffled). Availability: Rare given its nearly 4-year lifespan. Appears on releases such as Roses are For the Rich and Action Jackson. Scare Factor: Minimal. This logo may catch you off guard if you don't expect it, but it's a favorite of many. 4th Logo (1987-1993) Nicknames: "The Hexagon G IV", "CGI G" Logo: Set on a white background, many of the rectangular parts of the Guild "G" fly in all directions. When two parts of the G meet in the middle later on, it zooms out, and extra rectangles that make the stem of the "G" fly in. "GUILD Home Video" fades in below, and the logo shines with a "wipe" effect. FX/SFX: Also good CGI for the 1980s. Music/Sounds: An upbeat synthesizer tune. Music/Sounds Variant: Rental copies of The Wizard have the logo music start before the logo actually appears, due to an error. Availability: More recent and easier to find than the previous logos, but still hard to find. Seen on the 4Front Video re-release of First Blood, and the original rental releases of The Wizard and Total Recall. Scare Factor: None. 5th Logo (1988-1994) Nicknames: "The Hexagon G V", "Neon Theater", "Solid Guild" Logo: On a black background, we see a glowing outline of a movie theater with little flashing lights inside. Two sets of red and yellow light streaks slide up, the last set flashing and bringing forth a white Guild Home Video logo. The streaks zoom out to outline the theater in blue with a ticket box in the front, little light blue "chaser" light windows on the sides, yellow "<<<>>>" lights on the marquee sides, pinkish lights surrounding the center of the marquee, and more yellow lights on the top. Variants: After the previews, and after the animation, "SOLID GUILD" zooms out of the ticket box, then the background, becomes blue, and the theater and the logo fade out. In 1990, a 10th anniversary variant was used, which has the theatre fade out and the Guild logo zoom forth and turn gold. A number 10 at the top surrounded by a round banner with stars and the years "1980" and "1990" on the sides fade in. "TEN YEARS OF" and "independence" are shown below. The logo shines with a few pings. FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The neon effects and the obvious chyron effects of the Guild logo. Music/Sounds: An upbeat '80s pop tune (two different ones were used) with whooshes from the lasers, along with an overly excited announcer saying "Introducing future releases from Guild Home Video!" or "Look out for these and other great new releases from Guild at your local video library!". Availability: Used concurrently with the 4th logo to introduce movie trailers, and used quite frequently as a result. Seen on the original rental release of The Wizard. Scare Factor: Minimal. The neon effects might not sit well with some. 6th Logo (1993-1996) Nicknames: "The Hexagon G VI", "The Director's Chair", "Directed by Guild Home Video", "The Last of Guild" Logo: Against a black background, we see a director's chair in a blue spotlight. The camera pans around the chair, and both parts of the Guild logo slide from both sides of the screen in a tilted position, then "GUILD" appears underneath when we zoom into the chair. FX/SFX: Top-notch CGI for the early '90s. Music/Sounds: A mystical pan-flute tune, complete with a synth whoosh and an orchestra at the end. Availability: Rare. It appears on VHS tapes of later films that Guild released until their merger with Pathé in 1997, such as the re-release of Universal Soldier, Night Trap, James and the Giant Peach, Stargate, Army Of Darkness, Matinee, and Serial Mom. This logo also appeared theatrically with Guild Film Distribution releases from 1993 until the Pathé merger, with films including James and the Giant Peach. Scare Factor: Low. The music may be unsettling to some, but the animation is quite good, and this overall is a fitting end to a company with many memorable logos. Category:Scary Logos Category:Red Logos Category:Yellow Logos Category:Scary Logos Wiki Category:Redeemed from spam categories Category:Orange Logos Category:Zooming Logos Category:Simple Logos Category:Cute Logos Category:Funny Logos Category:Blue Logos